Monday, August 28, 2006

I have been so busy, my poor blog has been neglected and thousands of people have been deluging me with emails asking when my next very insightful post will appear.

Yeah, right.

Anyway, I have been incredibly busy doing some incredibly interesting stuff. Want to hear about it? Oh, okay, you twisted my arm.

First of all and most exciting, I and my development team have been putting in lots of hours to complete the beta release of Qute, the Quest Unit Testing Tool. If you write PL/SQL code, this product is going to rock you back in your shoes. It will completely change the way you think about and do testing of your PL/SQL code. We now enter a 6 week QA period and then move to an October 2006 release. The beta program is closed (unless you are really serious about getting involved, in that case, get in touch...), but you can download and try out the software - starting tomorrow, August 29. Just visit the Qute Community and have a look around after we load up the beta software at the end of this day.

Beyond that, I just finished one of the most interesting books I have ever read in my life. It is called On Intelligence, by Jeff Hawkins, and it offers a paradigm for understanding how our brain works (that is, how we are able to function in the world, type on a keyboard, think abstract thoughts, build cars, etc.). He thinks that with this paradigm shift, we will relatively soon be able to make true thinking machines, as opposed to computing machines, the dumb things that we call "computers" today. Yes but what about Skynet?

Read this book. It is short and mostly very accessible. It could change your life! I strongly urge you to get a copy, only $7.99 at Amazon!

On to less pleasant matters. Just when I thought I had managed to put an arm's length between my emotional well being and the awful conflicts raging between Israel's fanatical, aggressive military-governmental complex and its neighbors, I read this article and found myself in tears.

C'mon, Olmert. Even if you are totally justified in using cluster bombs on towns in Lebanon (which usage almost certainly violates US law), couldn't you have the grace to now say: "We will help you clean up our mess. We will provide soldiers to gather up all those little colored balls that look like toys but will actually destroy life."

Just think how much good will Israel would gain.

Sorry, just dreaming about a better world again...may I never break the habit!

Meanwhile, my wonderfully creative wife, Veva, a ceramist of fine skill and aesthetic sense, just installed her latest "goddess" statue in front of our house. She calls it the Bird Lady. I like it alot.

Tuesday, August 08, 2006

Abe Foxman is National Director and chairman of the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith. He started working for the Anti-Defamation League 1965. He was promoted to National Director in 1987.

The mission of the ADL is:

The immediate object of the League is to stop, by appeals to reason and conscience and, if necessary, by appeals to law, the defamation of the Jewish people. Its ultimate purpose is to secure justice and fair treatment to all citizens alike and to put an end forever to unjust and unfair discrimination against and ridicule of any sect or body of citizens.

This is a very noble mission and the ADL has over the years indeed helped to secure justice and fair treatment for some citizens. But lately Abe Foxman has become an incredibly obnoxious cheerleader for the State of Israel (by which I mean those executing the policies of the repulsive former Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, and his pathological Likud party).

Ok, fine. This is America. Freedom of speech and all that. Fine. Then let him spout his self-absorbed nonsense. But, particularly given the name of his organization, you'd think he would at least take care not to defame people.

NEW YORK - The National Director of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), Abraham Foxman, accused United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan on Tuesday of demonstrating "blatant one-sidedness" in his comments about Israel's war against Hezbollah in Lebanon.

"I am stunned that the UN secretary general cannot find his tongue except to criticize and denounce Israel, and is unable to raise his voice to denounce Hezbollah's daily firing of hundreds of rockets that are specifically intended to hurt civilians," Foxman said Tuesday in an exclusive interview with Haaretz.

"In addition, [Annan] has not bothered to mention the loss of life in Israel as a result of the rocket attacks," Foxman continued. "When will the UN secretary general begin to give Jewish lives the same respect he extends to other human beings," the ADL head asked.===========END ARTICLE

I was at first shocked to see the ADL describe Kofi Annan as "anti-Israel." That is a very serious charge to level at the Secretary General of the United Nations. Then I read what Foxman said and found myself wondering...it certainly would be shocking and disgraceful for Annan to never mention that Israelis have died from rocket attacks, never denounce Hezbollah's those same attacks on Israeli towns and cities. That sure would be one-sided and, at a minimum, thoroughly lacking in compassion for Israelis.

You really would have to question Annan's objectivity, his fitness for the position he holds today.

Surely Foxman or someone at ADL had carefully gone over all of Annan's public pronouncement to make sure Fox's claims were accurate; namely, that Annan had "not bothered to mention the loss of life in Israel as a result of the rocket attacks."

But why assume that? Why not check for myself? So here it is, 1:10AM in the morning. I need to sleep. I am overwhelmed by work. But I find myself visiting www.un.org and reviewing Annan's personal statements. This is what I found (and fortunately very quickly as well):

July 26http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs//2006/sgsm10578.doc.htm"First and most urgent, we need an immediate cessation of the hostilities that began on 12 July with Hizbollah's reckless attack across the Blue Line and the abduction of two Israeli soldiers."We need a cessation of hostilities because we face a grave humanitarian crisis. The United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator, Jan Egeland, has just visited Lebanon, and reports that some 800,000 people are being affected in one way or another, whether through displacement, injury, trauma or other fallout. Meanwhile, rockets continue to fall on Israeli cities, taking lives and instilling deep fear among hundreds of thousands of people. Some 400 Lebanese have been killed, and many thousands wounded. Several dozen Israelis have been killed, and hundreds wounded...."Therefore, I call on Hizbollah to stop its deliberate targeting of Israeli population centres.

"And I call on Israel to end its bombardments, blockades and ground operations."

======== END ANNAN'S STATEMENT

I imagine there are other, similar comments in press releases, comments to the media, and so on. It seems pretty clear to me that Annan did, indeed, mention all the things that Foxman claims Annan did not. From the brief review I performed, it also seemed rather clear that Annan was very consistent in condemning all violations of international law, and in particular the use of violence against civilians.

It just so happens that the Israel Defense Forces are inflicting orders of magnitude more violence against Lebanese and Palestinians than Hezbollah and Hamas are inflicting on Israelis.

As a result, there are many more deaths to condemn, much more destruction of civilian infrastructure, vastly more refugees and a full-blown humanitarian crisis -- all the direct result of Israel's attack on Lebanon. Whether you consider this attack justified or not, there is no doubt about whose bombs are doing what, and to whom.

The conclusion should be patently clear to all:

Abe Foxman and the Anti-Defamation League have defamed Kofi Annan and the United Nations. He should immediately offer an apology (I am sure he can find some intern assigned to do the research to take the fall) or he should resign from his position in the ADL.

Saturday, August 05, 2006

I was thinking the other day that I have written so many little utilities that I imagine many PL/SQL developers would appreciate. So I am going to post them occasionally on this blog, in the hopes that that code I wrote will be more widely used.

The exec_ddl_from_file program will execute the contents of your file as a DDL statement. This means that you may not use any bind variables, nor may you return information from the statement that is executed dynamically. But you can use this program to read in a file (using UTL_FILE) that contains, say, the CREATE OR REPLACE PACKAGE definition of a package, and create that package. Hopefully you will find such a utility handy, but I wrote it mostly to demonstrate how you can use DBMS_SQL.PARSE to execute arbitrarily large dynamic SQL strings. EXECUTE IMMEDIATE of Native Dynamic SQL fame is limited to 32K characters. Not so with DBMS_SQL. So here are the files in the download:

exec_ddl_from_file.sql - creates a procedure that executes the contents of a file. You will need to have UTL_FILE configured to get this program to run properly.

exec_ddl_from_file2.sql - creates a procedure that executes the contents of a file and includes the logic required to verify that you are indeed running under invoker rights.You will need to have UTL_FILE configured to get this program to run properly.

invdefinv.sql - a script that demonstrates how when a definer rights program calls an invoker rights program, the current user for that invoker rights program is set to the owner of the definer rights program. It also shows the usefulness of the DBMS_UTILITY.FORMAT_CALL_STACK, which reveals the PL/SQL call stack.

I am placing in my blog something I wrote several years ago. It is hidden away at www.stevenfeuerstein.com.

12/13/98 - I played Pitch, a very interesting card game with numerous levels of strategy, several times today with Eli (my youngest son, 13 yrs old at this time). He has a sharp mind. I sat there looking at him, his long, hairy legs, his ever-lengthening feet, his expanding chin, and I saw:

Eli in motion -- even as he just sat there: growing, growing, growing.

It was such a wonderful feeling and then I thought to myself: "How awful it would be to have the death of a child on one's hands."

So many men in this world (sure, and some women , too) have directly caused the death of a child; hell, some men have caused the deaths of thousands of children. Try to imagine it yourself (no, Henry Kissinger, you have to skip this step): because of something you did, or a decision you made from a position of authority, a little boy or girl stopped breathing.

Maybe you ordered a bomb to be dropped on a village. You didn't want to, but the General made it clear that this entire sector had to be clear of enemy forces within two weeks, and you just didn't have the time or the men to check every population center individually.

Maybe you dropped the bomb on that village. You didn't want to, but the alternative was court-martial, and maybe there were Viet Cong down there, just like the Lieutenant said.

Maybe you ran over a little girl crossing the street because you were drunk - or just picking your nose (after all, anything can happen).

Maybe you're the CEO of an extremely profitable corporation that laid off 3,000 workers just before Christmas to increase the value of the stock. Joe, a seriously depressed, 27-year employee, shoots his wife and two kids, and then himself.

Kids die all the time; some times it's the result of an "honest" accident. You still have to figure out how to live with the results of your action, but at least it wasn't your intention. So many children are killed each year, however, by people who went ahead with their action or decision, even though they knew that children would, as a result, die.

So here is my idea: create a website, called www.deathofachild.com, which would be used to propose individuals who are responsible for the death of a child. We would then have an open debate on the Internet about whether or not that individual is responsible or if the charge was unwarranted (the death was, for example, "justifiable" - whatever that might mean - or truly an accident).

Visitors would submit a name and history; those names would be researched by an independent group. If they recommended that there is sufficient evidence, the name and situation would be posted on the website, and let the debate commence. What do you think?

Tuesday, August 01, 2006

I can still recall with shame that when I was young and much less mature, I rationalized PLO attacks on school buses. My argument went something like this: "Their children die and no one cares. So in desperation they commit these acts of terrorism to get the world's attention."

I am deeply ashamed of those kinds of statements now. They demonstrated a callousness and also a sort of defensiveness. I understand now that, deep down, I knew that what the PLO was doing was wrong, but I was not confident enough in my beliefs and understanding to take a more nuanced position (the Palestinian people have been hurt grievously by the Israeli Defense Forces over the years, but that never justifies the wielding of violence against innocents). I was also rebelling against any number of things, which had little to do with Israel....

Whatever the explanation, saying things like that not only insulted those who died and grieved, but also degraded me. I was a caricature of a living, feeling, compassionate human being.

When I talk to fellow Jews now and hear them oh so blithely dismiss Israel's devastating attacks on an entire nation (Lebanon), the killing of scores, maybe even hundreds of innocent children, and simply blame it on Hezbollah, never Israel, I hear an echo of my earlier pathetic and immature stance.

When I talk to fellow Jews who are unable to admit that the vaunted Israeli Air Force can do anything wrong, who believe that anything the government of Israel does is, by definition, correct and moral (for example, "The IDF is the most moral military force in the world"), I feel very sad and depressed. I can almost sense their soul going gray, their moral edge going dull, their ability to celebrate all life and all people diminished, their humanity seeping out of them....

I have been heads-down, coding and documenting, documenting and coding -- working furiously to meet deadlines that would allow my unit testing tool, code-named Qute (the Quest Unit Test Engine), to go production in October. Wow...what a brain drain.

One of the features offered by Qute is the ability to select test data values from pre-defined groups. And I thought that, what the heck, I would provide a set of prime numbers between 1 and 100, as one of those groups.

To do that, I built a little prime number generator package. It is definitely not anything fancy and I include it below. The generator tries to divide into a given number every integer between 2 and one less than that number. In none of the divide evenly, I've got a prime.

Hey, what can I say? I've got a Bachelors Degree with High Distinction in Mathematics, Summa Cum Laude, from the University of Rochester, 1980. This kind of brute force algorithm comes to me naturally.

Anyway, I also added the ability to generate text that contains the prime number. Here is an example of using the program to generate code that I needed to insert into my Qute install script: